Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is very pleased to present “Lavi Daniel and Kim MacConnel in Conversation,” an artists' talk held in conjunction with Daniel's current solo exhibition, The Fruits of an Enigma.

The Fruits of an Enigma is an investigation that begins through the eyes of the artist as a seven-year-old, inspired by the rediscovery of a drawing the artist made at that tender age. Aware that it's sixty years later, and established in the conviction that there is a coexisting viewpoint of the same enigmatic reality, Daniel seeks to recapture the sense of wonderment within the artistic process that he experienced in his youth. The seventeen works on paper presented in this exhibition are created in soft pastel, the same medium he employed 60 years earlier, which provides a sense of comfort and familiarity in his search of a common figurative language between his present and former self.

Intent on following the young boy's lead, Daniel creates abstract, dream-like environments for figures that act as provocations within a long-forgotten but still present moment yearning to be recovered. Bands and blocks of color, and imagined figures whose actions are both familiar and unknown, populate these strange and peculiar environments. Like the enigmatic scenes of Florentine Renaissance painters Fra Angelico and Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo) whose artistic innovations and use of color have long been an inspiration to Daniel, there is a playful inventiveness in these works that invites us to drop into the mindset and wonderment of the seven-year-old yearning to understand the universe.

Exhibited in conjunction with the pastels are two new paintings from the artist’s ongoing series, The Dance of Perpetuity. In this body of work, Daniel borrows from his familiarity with textiles and the visual language of landscapes, its forms and vibrant colors, to create energetic abstractions.

Lavi Daniel (b. Los Angeles, 1954) attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA. His work has been included in solo and group exhibitions including the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena CA; University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, CA; Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; among others. His work has been reviewed by the Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, and LA Weekly. Daniel lives and works in Mendocino, CA.